Monthly Archives: December 2013

Scottish midges damage Inverness housing market prospects (Rousse)

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We were looking around a new housing development in Inverness. Amongst the large modern yellow sandstone “executive homes” were grey monochrome Scooby Doo mansions, covered in creeper with their windows boarded up. “Let’s buy one of the wrecks and renovate … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged board, creeper, damage, development, executive, gray, grey, home, homes, housing, Inverness, mansion, mansions, market, midge, midges, modern, monochrome, problem, renovate, sandstone, Scooby Doo, Scotland, Scottish, summer, TPR, windows, wreck, wrecks, yellow | Leave a comment

Australian dinosaur surprise (Rousse)

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Although it was the middle of December, I was luxuriating in the warmth of summer thanks to a speaking invitation at a conference in Australia. Dressed in a light cotton skirt, I wandered through the grounds of the conference centre … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Australia, Australian, bird, birds, camera, centre, conference, corner, December, dinosaur, elephant, exotic, ferocious, fled, flee, grounds, invitation, photograph, skirt, speaking, summer, warm, wildlife | Leave a comment

Sharon the fine art vandal and a welcome Christmas gift (Rousse)

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Dreamaticus

As she moved the pictures around our flat, the woman with long dark hair complained to me that she hated her name. I suggested that if she really wanted to do so, she could change it from Sharon to something … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged antibiotics, art, canvas, canvases, Christmas, compensation, dark, drawing, drugs, fine art, fir, flat, frame, frames, gift, hair, hate, headache, house, model, name, picture, pictures, pin, pins, present, red, Sharon, soap bag, tablets, tree, valueless, vandal, wood | Leave a comment

A reunion with Gandalf, Dumbledore, Beowulf, and Basil Fawlty (Rousse)

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Gandalf and/or Dumbledore was dead. I saw them wheel his body into the hall on a trolley. The white sheet was meant to cover the entire corpse, but strands of long white hair could not be contained and peeked out … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2026, 40th, actor, actors, affair, alcohol, anniversary, arm, Basil Fawlty, Beowulf, body, booze, bottom, buffet, cheer, chocolate, cigarettes, coffee, confession, conversation, corpse, cover, culprit, dead, diet, drink, Dumbledore, Effes, fictional, food, friend, Gandalf, hair, hand, hero, John Cleese, long, man, marquee, meeting, mousse, mouth, New Forest, pair, pale, pinch, portaloo, portaloos, professional, remake, reunion, room, sad, shape, sheet, summer, suspect, suspects, sweets, table, tent, tents, TPR, trolley, university, white, work | Leave a comment

A weekend salmon fishing (Rousse)

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

“Are you OK to go salmon fishing the weekend of 12th March?” asked EH. “12th March? When does the season start?” interupted some random bloke. I concluded that this man was a half-wit: doesn’t everyone know the dates of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged busy, calendar, cope, dates, fishing, half-wit, invitation, March, salmon, season, weekend | Leave a comment

What to do with a cracked iPhone screen (Rousse)

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I dropped my iPhone on the tiled floor where it landed flat on its screen. The same fate befell the iPhone of the woman sitting opposite me. Our mobile screens were now cracked. I tapped mine to see what would … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged broken, cracked, drop, floor, glass, iPhone, mobile, operational, screen, screens, shard, shards, tap, tiled, tiles, woman | Leave a comment

A Christmas cycling trip to Cornwall (Rousse)

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Dreamaticus

This was a big treat for my mother, who had never visited Cornwall before. After a long hunt for a space, we parked our sports car in a side street, almost crushing my old red cycling helmet into the kerb … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bike, bikes, car, Christmas, clcying, Cornwall, crsuh, cycling, descent, helmet, high, kerb, low, mistake, mother, option, options, park, perpendicular, promenade, road, route, seafront, shiny, sports, steep, TPR, track, trap, treat, tree, trip, uphill, visit, white-wash | Leave a comment

A lost briefcase (Rousse)

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I could tell that AC was losing patience with me when, once again, I admitted that I had lost my briefcase. We would now miss the train to London while we looked for my belongings. Was I really to blame … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accreditation, blame, briefcase, distracted, fun, journey, London, lost, patience, Sheffield, slide, station, train, UCL, University College London, visit | Leave a comment

Baby Yoda and the secret porn star (Rousse)

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My friend A sat down next to me on the bus. It looked like he was carrying his son in his arms, but I couldn’t be certain that this was a human baby. The first strange thing about the child … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged arms, baby, black, bus, carry, cellars, changeling, child, confess, dye, ear, ears, film, floppy, hair, human, labyrinth, like, music, naked, nappy, pale, porn, secret, son, star, Star Wars, studio, studios, town, TPR, translucent, whisper, winter, Yoda | Leave a comment

“Invisible” cat caught wearing navy blue corduroy dungarees (Rousse)

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

As we hung our belongings up in the gym changing rooms TPR noticed the sign that said that animals were forbidden on site. I took my purple fleece off its hook and passed it to the cat. “I suggest that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, belongings, cat, changing, corduroy, dungarees, fleece, forbidden, gym, hook, invisible, navy blue, outside, plan, powers, purple, room, run, shelter, sister, site, TPR | Leave a comment